Chennai: Covid has changed a lot of things. Though businesses were affected initially, they are bouncing back with the help of technology.
Udaan recently announced that it had enabled over 250 sellers under the Lifestyle category achieve sales worth Rs 10 million on the platform in 2020.
Its Lifestyle business- comprising clothing, accessories and footwear – shipped over 230 million products to 20 per cent of the total Lifestyle retailers present in India while catering to more than 26 lakh orders in 2020.
The sellers on the platform were able to benefit from the ease-of-business and scale of eCommerce which resulted in the Lifestyle business achieving sales of 10 million comfort wear products and 10 million pairs of slippers across 900 cities during the year.
Around one lakh new users were added on the platform during 2020. The pandemic resulted in protective masks becoming the largest product category sold on the platform. Over 25 million masks were shipped to more than 20,000 retailers across India during the year.
In the meantime, alternative food and treatment methods too are gaining momentum during this season. With organic food products catching the attention of the people, ready to cook range has hit the market.
According to Balasubramanian, CEO, 24 Mantra Organic, ‘Providing pure and healthy food to consumers has been our mainstay. With growing awareness and adoption of organic and healthy food among consumers and with acceleration of this trend because of the pandemic, we identified healthy, convenient Indian breakfast was still a need gap not well addressed by brands in the market. The carefully curated range of products is a reflection of our commitment to respond quickly to changing consumer demands and preferences for such products’.
Coming to the health sector, a new solution called Derma Heal uses Narrowband UVB phototherapy. ‘Narrowband’ refers to a specific wavelength of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, ranging from 311 to 312 nm. This range of UV radiation has proved to be beneficial component for treating skin problems like Psoriasis, Vitiligo, Atopic Eczema, Dandruff, Pruritus and Lichen Planus amongst others.
Says Dr. Akshay Batra, Fellow of Homeopathic Dermatology (Maharashtra University of Health Sciences) and vice-chairman and managing director of Dr Batra’s Group, ‘through Derma Heal, we aim to increase treatment results to up to 96 per cent as compared to 60 per cent in other conventional treatment methods’.
Meanwhile, how about smart fans? CK Birla Group’s Orient Electric Limited has launched IoT-enabled and 50 per cent energy saving i-Float inverter fans. Atul Jain, executive vice president, Orient Electric Ltd, said, ‘Today’s consumers no longer want ordinary fans, they want fans that are smart, stylish, energy-efficient, and add convenience to life. This growing demand for premium and decorative fans gives us an opportunity to gain further dominance in the segment.’